Transavia unveils 2019 growth plans

Transavia is increasing capacity for the 2019 summer season with a series of new routes and additional frequencies from its bases in France and the Netherlands.

Transavia France, the low-cost arm of the Air France-KLM Group and the French operations of Transavia, is launching a new route to Beirut and adding four additional frequencies for the summer season from its base in Lyon.

It will launch a weekly flight linking Beirut and Lyon from April 2019, and will add frequency on its routes to Marrakech, Agadir, Oujda and Monastir. The new services represent a growth of 14% in its offerings, with a total of 608,000 seats offered from Lyon.

The airline says it is aiming to strengthen its position from Lyon Saint Exupéry: “These innovations confirm Transavia’s desire to develop its Lyonnais base as a privileged access point to the Mediterranean basin.”

“We are very happy with the welcome we have received from Lyon travellers: since our establishment in the region in 2010, we have exceeded the milestone of 2 million passengers carried,” said Nicolas Hénin, deputy general manager commercial and marketing for Transavia France.

Transavia France also recently announced plans to place two new aircraft at its Nantes base to ensure a 70% growth in capacity for summer 2019 along with plans to launch five routes.

Meanwhile, Transavia’s operations in the Netherlands are also planned to grow capacity for the summer, offering more than 70 destinations during the season including six new routes. The airline will offer flights to Brindisi, Tangiers, Zadar and Nador from Rotterdam The Hague Airport, as well as Beirut from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Krakow from Eindhoven Airport.

“We’re focusing intently on growth through optimisation of our current network,” said Erik-Jan Gelink, head of commercial at Transavia. “Like last year, we’re once again adding two new aircraft to our fleet, which leads to an increase of our capacity of 300,000 passengers. Our focus is on popular Southern European destinations. But we’re also expanding our market share in Morocco by adding extra flights to Marrakech, Al Hoceima, Tangiers and Nador.”